“Well thanks, Jeff.”
She hung up the phone, rubbed her eyes and bowed her head. Claire Lew had just received a call with the Associated Student Government presidential election results, a call she had awaited for months.
Expressionless, she lifted her head and stared blankly at her campaign staff, who feared the worst.
“We won.”
The Public Affairs Residential College library, campaign headquarters for the past three ASG presidents, erupted.
“That was nasty,” Campaign Manager Dan Weiss said, referring to Lew’s prank.
Running a campaign from PARC isn’t the only thing the last three victors have in common. Current ASG President Mike McGee and his predecessor, Neal Sales-Griffin (SESP ’09), were with Lew when she heard the results and joked about their own elections.
“I faked them out,” said McGee, a Communication senior.
“Yeah, I faked them out, too,” responded Sales-Griffin.
Behind endorsements from the last two presidents, the Coalition of Colors and The Daily, Lew, a SESP junior, won 67.11 percent of the vote, according to data from Election Commission Chairman Jeff Cao, a Weinberg senior. SESP sophomore Alessio Manti, Lew’s only opponent, took 29 percent of the vote. The remaining 3.11 percent went to write-ins and “no confidence” votes. 3,234 students voted in this year’s election, a 23 percent decrease from 2009.
“It’s so surreal,” Lew said of her victory. “I’m so overwhelmed when I think about the hours and sacrifices and blood, sweat and tears … When you chalk, you bleed.”
Polls closed at 7 p.m., and Lew got the call from Cao at about 7:45.
Almost every campaigner expressed relief to be done with the race.
“It’s tough, it sucks, it’s frustrating,” said Strategy Campaign Manager Maggie Jim, a SESP senior. “I’ve lost weight, but it was too worth it.”
Lew’s team began their celebration at Chili’s. Vice President-elect Hiro Kawashima said the group had additional plans.
“We’ll keep this on the record: We’re going out tonight,” the Weinberg sophomore said.
In many ways, this year’s race seemed to be a repeat of last April. Lew managed McGee’s campaign, and Manti did the same for Medill senior Bill Pulte, who lost in a run-off vote. In both elections, an accusatory viral e-mail sparked controversy and a late-night ruling from the Election Commission.
Manti posted a message to his campaign’s Facebook page Monday, claiming Lew’s staff used unethical tactics such as tearing down oppositional posters and spreading false information. Lew sent out a response e-mail denying all claims several hours later.
After a three-hour meeting, the commission ruled at 1 a.m. Tuesday that both candidates were guilty of “non-respectful discourse” and required them to release statements reiterating their principles.
While Lew’s team was waiting for results Wednesday night, Sales-Griffin asked the staffers to share their favorite campaigning moments.
“The very first night we chalked, someone walked by and said they were going to call Alessio and tell him to go to Tech because we had The Arch, so I took off,” said Kate McGarrahan, a Weinberg sophomore. “I was like, ‘Let’s just draw something so Alessio doesn’t get it,’ and he never showed up.”
Not all of the moments shared were triumphs.
“Today, going door-to-door, I walked in on two people about to have sex,” Weiss said.
Lew will be sworn in at the next ASG Senate meeting, 7 p.m. Wednesday in Norris University Center.
